


A Puzzling Revelation

by whenineternal



Series: Family Fluff [6]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Family Fluff, Hyoje, M/M, Married Life, Parent-Child Relationship, i should tag all of them right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 11:50:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18141809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whenineternal/pseuds/whenineternal
Summary: "I think we have a genius son.""How are we supposed to handle a genius son?"





	A Puzzling Revelation

**Author's Note:**

> Jeno is Jaehyun's biological son, this is also true in my family fluff au.

Doyoung is still going over his case files as he steps through the door of their home, lost in witness reports as he kicks his shoes off and shrugs his coat off one arm at a time. He had left the office a little early, planning to work in his home office for another hour and then they could all have an early dinner. The weather was so nice, he had figured it was about time they took full use of their new backyard. Living in a house has its own perks, compared to a city apartment. 

He is halfway to his office, one foot on the bottom most stair, when he realises the house isn’t empty like the strange silence had led him to believe. He can see both his husband and daughter through the open doorway into the dining room, sitting eerily still with their backs to him. Quietly slinking around the banister he leaves his briefcase and files on the side table and steps up behind them without a word. He wonders what could be so interesting they completely missed anyone entering the house. 

Placing a soft hand on Jaehyun’s shoulder he meets eyes with his husband when the younger man startles and sits up straight. Furrowing his brows in question and tilting his head doesn’t warrant him any answer and Jaehyun’s attention shifts quickly back onto their youngest child. 

While he had seen Jeno lying on his stomach on top of the table, it hadn’t occurred to him what his son was doing the first time he looked at him. When it becomes clear that Jeno is the star of this riveting show, Doyoung looks him over and takes in everything he had missed before. Like the half-finished puzzle on the table, and the dark blue puzzle pieces in his son’s tiny fists. At two years and eleven months, Jeno is puzzling all on his own.

Lying on his stomach on their dining room table, sorting through the assorted, small puzzle pieces, picking them out and putting them in place, all with not a single input from any of them. He can tell already by the size of the puzzle, but just to be sure he checks the box lying discarded off to the side. It’s a thousand piece puzzle. His son who is still in diapers is puzzling a thousand piece puzzle. 

All thoughts of work blown from his mind, Doyoung leans down and presses a kiss to the top of Hyoje’s head, checking her forehead and feeling relieved that her fever seems to have finally broken, and then he takes Jaehyun’s hand in his and pulls him into the adjoining kitchen.

“Jeno is puzzling,” he says, still too surprised at this fact to piece together any cleverer words. Jaehyun nods rapidly, his eyes wide. Doyoung doesn’t know how long he and Hyoje sat like that, watching Jeno, but he can guess by the seemingly frozen look on Jaehyun’s face that it has been a while. Jaehyun takes a big breath and shakes himself a little, and then it’s like he finally found his words.

“At first he was just watching me, I started puzzling about two hours ago. And then Hyoje came downstairs, she didn’t want to sleep anymore. I think she’s finally getting better by the way. And when she started puzzling, Jeno I guess found out he wanted to help too. And we just let him, I didn’t think he was actually gonna be able to do anything so I just watched him to make sure he didn’t eat any of the pieces - “

Jaehyun takes a deep breath when Doyoung runs his fingers through his hair and cups the back of his head. 

“I think we have a genius son,” he whispers, as if saying the words out loud would make them true. He looks terrified, and while Doyoung hasn’t quite caught up with him yet, he can understand why. 

“How are we supposed to handle a genius son?” Jaehyun is hanging onto his suit jacket, his fists clutching the lapels so hard Doyoung is afraid for a second he might tear the fabric. He also can’t help smiling at how much alike his husband and son really are. 

“We raise him,” is all he says and by a stroke of luck, they were the right words to say. All the tension leaves Jaehyun’s body is one swoop, causing him to slump against Doyoung, not doubting for a second that his husband will catch him. 

Doyoung presses a kiss into Jaehyun’s soft hair and looks over his shoulder at their two kids. Hyoje is leant over the table now, puzzling alongside Jeno, but still not helping him in the slightest. The sight of them makes Doyoung warm to his core. Hyoje is such a good big sister to Jeno. He had worried at first about how she would take to a younger brother suddenly being in her life, but the moment Jeno had grasped her finger in his fist she had sworn to be the best big sister he could ask for. And Doyoung doesn’t doubt that she will always hold to that promise. 

“He will be alright,” he whispers into Jaehyun’s ear, rubbing circles between his shoulder blades. “We will be alright.”

 

They hold each other in the kitchen for several more minutes, Doyoung watching their children with fascination and Jaehyun hiding his face in his husband’s neck, needing a break from it all. They separate only when Hyoje walks past them, gently hitting her fists on her papa’s back and calling him a softy. Doyoung can only laugh and agree wholeheartedly. 

Jaehyun pouts playfully and Doyoung smothers the childish expression with a kiss. 

“How about we make dinner, huh? Eat on the porch?”he says to the room and is met with twin exclamations of “ugh yeah I’m starving.”

Jaehyun pulls away from Doyoung and head to the fridge, immediately arguing with Hyoje about what to make for dinner. The two of them have always had a good rapport, a litany of jokes that never seem to end and are only taken up again in the next conversation, making it hard sometimes for Doyoung to keep up. He is happy to leave them to it, walking back into the dining room to say hi to his son. 

“Hi baby,” he says quietly, reluctant to disturb Jeno who is still focused on the puzzle. 

“Daddy!” Jeno’s face lights up the second he sets eyes on Doyoung, the puzzle abandoned as he crawls over the table surface to reach him. Doyoung swoops him into his arms, doing a twirl just to hear his precious laugh.

“I see you’ve been puzzling,” he says and presses a kiss to his son’s soft cheek. Jeno nods rapidly, humming, and squirms a little when Doyoung plants another kiss on his face. 

“It’s fun,” Jeno says, his voice so clear and enunciation so good and it all makes sense to Doyoung now. They were so surprised when Jeno picked up talking so quickly, and when he recited his favourite storybook from memory, word for word, when he was only two. They had posted a video of it on instagram and Ten had commented that  _ the boy’s a genius _ , but none of them had taken that as anything but a joke, when they really should have treated it seriously. 

Jaehyun is right to be worried; raising a child is difficult to begin with, and right now he can only imagine how much more so it will be with a genius child. But he can’t worry about that now. Jeno is barely three years old, what he needs is his parents to love and care for him, and maybe another puzzle or two to keep his mind occupied. Jeno is already leaning out of his arms to try and reach the puzzle on the table.

“We’re having dinner soon, you wanna go with daddy and clean up?” he asks, smiling when Jeno immediately pulls himself close into his chest again and tucks his head into his shoulder. He carries Jeno upstairs and cleans his face and hands with a warm washcloth, dressing him afterwards in warmer clothes so he won’t be cold, and then he lets him wander around his and Jaehyun’s bedroom while he changes out of his suit. By the time they go back downstairs, Hyoje is carrying side dishes out onto the patio table and Jaehyun is taking the meat out of the oven. They have a charcoal grill that was left in the yard by the last owners, but neither he nor Jaehyun feel very comfortable grilling something on an open flame so for now any barbequing happens indoors. 

“Papa,” Jeno exclaims and Doyoung carries him close enough that he can press a kiss on Jaehyun’s dimpled cheek. Hyoje is jumping in her seat, clad in Jaehyun’s woollen sweater that is far too big on her, the sleeves folded up several times, and she makes grimaces at Jeno as Doyoung sets him down in his high chair. 

“You know I was thinking,” Jaehyun says as he comes outside and sets the meat down in the middle of the table. He ruffles Jeno’s hair and presses a kiss to Doyoung’s cheek before he continues.

“We should buy that puzzle glue thing, so we can hang it up once it’s done.” He starts plating the food, piling lots of vegetables on Hyoje’s plate until she grimaces and whines at him, and then he turns to start cutting Jeno’s food into small pieces. 

“Our three year old son did that, it needs to be displayed,” he says and Doyoung is happy to see he has gotten over his initial fear. 

“We’ll go this weekend, and then Jeno can pick out some more puzzles if he wants to,” Doyoung says with a small smile stretching his mouth.  With Hyoje leaning into his side and Jeno’s sweet voice screeching in happiness, he has never felt more content. And when Jaehyun meets his eyes from across the table, the moment is perfect. 


End file.
